


A Necessary Choice

by GoldenThreads



Category: X-Force (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Polyamory, Pre-Threesome, Relationship Negotiation, Television Watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 20:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2283438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenThreads/pseuds/GoldenThreads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tabitha's had more than enough of shitty love triangles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Necessary Choice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [buckythevampireslayer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckythevampireslayer/gifts).



> Follows episode 2.05 of Magnum, P.I., in which there are too many obvious parallels to be drawn.

A year ago, Tabitha would’ve been delighted to cuddle on the couch with her boyfriend’s arm around her shoulder, or his hand on her knee, or some other wonderfully affectionate gesture. Now she fought back the urge to blow their damn hands off with a time bomb whenever they touched her. She’d agreed to a lazy evening on the couch, see? Watch some stupid movies, put her feet up, gorge herself on popcorn. Simple.

She sure as hell hadn’t agreed to be the battleground for Sam and Roberto’s pissing match. It started the minute they sat down on either side of her, giving each other the evil eye instead of paying her a lick of attention. Roberto made the first move: a Magnum marathon, who would’ve guessed. By the time he returned to the couch, Sam’s hand was on her knee, so he threw his own around her shoulders. Sam responded by jamming his shoulder up against Roberto’s fingers, pinching them until he flinched away, and then purposefully wrapped his own arm around her shoulders instead.

It didn’t make Tabitha feel wanted — it made her feel like _meat_. She squirmed the whole episode long, dodging warm hands at the back of her neck and snapping up her knees when anyone tried to make a move. The worst part of it all was how oblivious they pretended to be, gaze never leaving the television screen even as a glimmer of intense competition shone in their eyes. If she said a word, they’d just play innocent, and then she’d look like the one making a scene. It turned her stomach. She _loved_ these assholes, dammit. And even if they wanted to blame her for not being able to choose, she still deserved better than _this._

“Everyone knows Michelle and Magnum were meant to be together,” Roberto grumbled. He crossed his arms and slumped back against Tabitha, head expertly angled so she could rest her own against it. She didn’t.

Sam rolled his eyes. “You’ve been sayin’ that for years, but seems like _everyone_ just means you.”

“They’re in love!”

“She loves her _husband._ ”

“Magnum’s her husband too!”

“Not in God’s eyes he ain’t.”

Tabitha gave a quiet groan and wondered what the hell she was thinking when she agreed to all this. As if the territorial warfare wasn’t enough, now she was trapped watching the same old shitty TV show and listening to the same tired argument. No wonder all the other New Mutants bailed on the new team.

“Dude, she is clearly in love with Magnum. Look at that kiss.” Roberto gestured wildly to the screen, then mouthed along as Michelle declared, _I love you more than anything in this world_. “Passion! That’s what matters.”

“Ah seem to recall she stays _faithful_ to her husband in the end. Seems like she made her choice.”

“Then why does she keep falling back into his life, huh? _Huh?_ ”

“Shit luck?”

“Will you two **please** shut up,” Tabitha growled, hoping that playing the Sanctity of Magnum card would at least save her from the ongoing argument.

All it did was silence the verbal conflict. On-screen Magnum and Michelle ran off with each other, and by the time Magnum was clothed in only a towel, Sam’s jaw was set tight as a bear trap. The room grew tense as the lovers spent their last night together, Sam sitting in judgment and Roberto in adoration, and then broke the moment Michelle made a speedy morning-after departure. Roberto’s tiny noise of despair brought a vengeful smirk to Sam’s lips. They’d seen this episode a million times before, but it had never cut quite so deep.

With Michelle in great danger, the episode finally reached its climax. Both men raced after their beloved damsel, gunshots rang out, and when Magnum took a bullet to the shoulder, Michelle’s husband dutifully rushed to his aid.

Roberto grit his teeth. “She should’ve chosen Magnum.”

“She made the right choice,” Sam declared with as much moral superiority as Tabitha had ever heard. Enough was enough.

“Maybe she wouldn’t have _had_ to choose if those two could’ve just gotten along!” She sprung to her feet, flinging a pillow back at them as she moved. “She’s not a fucking trophy to be won!”

The boys gaped in stunned silence.

“If they’d just listened to her then no one would’ve gotten shot in the first place! But noooo, we can’t have that, we’ve gotta build our plots around fragile male egos! Boo fucking hoo, she loves me but she loves him too! End of the world right there!”

“Tab—”

“I don’t want to hear it! I’m done!” Tabitha stared them down with as much fury as she could muster, but as the silence stretched on — as they sat there dumbstruck and actually listening for once — her momentum faltered and broke. She snatched up all the empty soda cans from the coffee table, afraid that she’d start throwing time bombs if she didn’t find something to do with her hands, then turned on her heel to march off toward the kitchen.

“I didn’t want to mess up your friendship, and I didn’t want to mess up _our_ friendships, and I just…really do love both of you.” She wiped angrily at her cheeks, even though her back was turned. “…And I don’t understand why you had to make that a bad thing.”

Chucking the empty cans into the bin with as loud a clatter as possible made her feel better for some reason. If the Danger Room wasn’t already in-use, Tabitha totally would’ve gone and blown up a few dozen farmboys and playboys, but for now she shoved a time bomb into the bin and sat on the lid, blasting all the recyclables to smithereens. The best mutations were the ones that provided quality stress management, if she did say so herself.

…One more chance. Tabitha was still angry as all hell, but she’d give them this one last chance to make it up to her. She knew they had it in them somewhere. So she grabbed a new round of drinks and peeked back out into the common room.

Roberto and Sam glanced at each other with a strange intensity, then looked back at her and each gave a sheepish nod in apology. She didn’t spare them a word, but she did go sit back down and toss them the drinks. The next episode started up and everything returned to the usual stalemate as if nothing had happened at all.

After a few quiet minutes, Roberto gave a big yawn and stretched his arm around Tabitha’s shoulders. She tensed up, ready to throw him off and be done with the whole thing, but out of the corner of her eye she caught Sam turn bright red. Turning to check on him, she realized Roberto’s hand had gone right past her shoulders and come to rest against Sam’s instead, absentmindedly fiddling with the soft hairs at the back of his neck.

Moment of truth.

Sam swallowed nervously, closed his eyes, and slowly leaned against Tabitha. With his head on her shoulder, he just so happened to give Roberto better access to keep playing with his hair.

 _Well now._ A smile slipped onto Tabitha’s face as she nestled back against them both. It wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind — it was new and terrifying and would take a ton of work — but right now that didn’t sound like a bad thing at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Berto's commitment to the Magnum/Michelle pairing is _actually canon_ and comes up in the 3rd New Mutants annual.
> 
> Faithfulness vs. Passion, mmhmm.


End file.
